Palo Alto Cops Identify Apple Store Robbery Suspects

PALO ALTO -– Detectives for the Palo Alto Police Department have identified six additional suspects in the overnight burglary of the Apple Store in downtown Palo Alto from last December, where a team of burglars drove a rented SUV through the glass storefront. Nine of the 10 identified suspects have now been taken into custody, and police hold an arrest warrant for the tenth.

On Sunday, December 4, 2016, at about 4:38 a.m., the Palo Alto 24-hour dispatch center received a call reporting that a vehicle had crashed into the front of the Apple Store at 340 University Avenue, and that witnesses had seen multiple suspects running from the area. Officers responded immediately and found the suspect vehicle (a gray 2016 Kia Soul) on the sidewalk in front of the store with major damage. A 40-foot tall panel of the glass storefront had been shattered but was still hanging in place, though the vehicle had punched a small hole in the bottom of the glass panel. Video surveillance showed that eight to ten suspects had crawled into the store through the hole in the glass and stole a large number of items. Police are not releasing the video surveillance footage.

During a search of the surrounding area immediately after the crime, officers located four individuals and detained them for investigation without incident. Detectives later placed the four suspects under arrest for burglary, vandalism, and conspiracy. On December 4, police released information on those four suspects, who were originally described as two adults and two juveniles. As it turns out, one of those initially identified as a 17-year-old juvenile was determined the following day to be an adult who had lied to police about his identity; accordingly, police promptly transferred 18-year-old Armonie Pugh of Oakland from Juvenile Hall to the Santa Clara County Main Jail. His booking photo is attached to this release. For more information on the other suspects originally arrested in this crime, as well as their photos, see our original news release here.

Over the course of the next three weeks, detectives conducted follow-up investigation into this incident, and ultimately were able to successfully identify an additional six suspects (three adults and three juveniles). For the adult suspects, detectives obtained arrest warrants for each of them for burglary, vandalism, and participation in a street gang while committing a felony (all felonies). For the juvenile suspects, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office is charging each of them with the same crimes as the adults.

– Lonnell Turner, 20, of Oakland, was arrested by the Oakland Police Department on December 29, 2016, pursuant to our outstanding warrant and booked in the Santa Clara County Main Jail. His booking photo is attached to this release.

– Robert Carter, 20, of Oakland, was arrested separately by the Oakland Police Department on December 29, 2016, pursuant to our outstanding warrant and booked into the Alameda County jail. His booking photo is attached to this release.

– Reginald Ayala, 19, of Oakland, has not yet been arrested and is currently wanted on our outstanding $500,000 felony warrant as a result of this case. No photo of him is available. Detectives are working in conjunction with neighboring agencies to locate him and take him into custody.

– A 17-year-old juvenile male and a 17-year-old juvenile female (both from Oakland) were separately arrested on unrelated charges by other law enforcement agencies in late December, and were subsequently charged in this case while they were in custody. The male remains in custody at Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall, and the female has since been released to her parents.

– A 17-year-old juvenile male from Oakland was arrested by the Newport Beach Police Department for this case on February 22, 2017, and transferred to Alameda County Juvenile Hall to face unrelated charges. He remains in custody there.